Toronto, Ontario (May 9, 2011) – Having witnessed the many benefits of social media, B Sharp is pleased to announce the launch of the B Social program to accelerate adoption and use of social media by Canadian healthcare organizations.
The B Social program will provide cash incentives and other prizes to healthcare organizations planning to launch social media initiatives that directly support or promote the delivery of healthcare services. Colleen Young, a noted social media advocate and plain language health writer, endorses the B Social program. "Social media is about participation," says Ms. Young. "Rather than merely setting up a Facebook or Twitter presence and promoting its products, B Sharp chose to help the community it serves, enabling healthcare organizations to experiment with and explore social media in new ways."
Michael Martineau, B Sharp's Vice-President of Sales and Marketing, has worked with Ms. Young and others to establish #hcsmca, an on-line community of people in the health sector devoted to helping one another adopt and use social media in their organizations. "When I heard several people in our community note that financial limitations impeded their ability to move forward with social media initiatives, I realized that we could help," explains Mr. Martineau. "Our senior executive team jumped on the idea and enthusiastically approved it."
Applications for the first round of the B Social program will be accepted for a three week period starting May 18, 2010 and ending June 8, 2011. Winners will be announced mid-June 2011. First prize is $2,500. Three runners-up will receive a mini flip-style video recorder. A second round is planned for the fall of 2011.
Ann Fuller, Director of Communications at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), tracks use of social media by Canadian Healthcare organizations at www.smich.ca. "Use of social media by the Canadian health sector is still in the very early stages," notes Ms. Fuller. "The B Social program helps raise awareness of the many benefits that social media has to offer, and can provide some financial resources to help organizations get started or move to their next phase."
Complete details on the B Social program can be found at www.bsharp.com/bsocial
About B Sharp Technologies Inc.
B Sharp Technologies is a well-established Canadian health IT vendor specializing in solutions that digitize a variety of healthcare processes. Focused initially on developing solutions for the mental health community, B Sharp has continually evolved its flagship product, B Care, and is using this robust platform to develop an ever growing family of solutions which digitize a specific healthcare process. B Care based solutions include an In-Patient Mental Health solution currently used to manage more than 40% of the in-patient beds in Ontario as well as Community Mental Health, Continuing Care, Long Term Care, Medication Management, Cardiac Outpatient Management, Business Intelligence and Synoptic Reporting solutions.